The Difference It Can Make
by MajorMutation
Summary: [SEQUEL TO ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD] With their engagement under way, and with Olga coming back home to live with them, Helga and Arnold deal with the obstacles that come along with planning a wedding. AxH!
1. Chapter 1

**I present to you The Difference it can Make! This is the sequel to All the Difference in the World, and will be much shorter. I'm shooting for between 40k to 50k words. I have the main idea of the story already worked out. **

**In order to understand this story, you will need to have read All the Difference in the World! The characters in this story, the setting, and the character background will make no sense to you if you just read this story! **

**I have yet to decide of this one will be M or not. If you think it should be, let me know. **

**Summary: With their engagement under way, and with Olga coming back home to live with them, Helga and Arnold deal with the obstacles that come along with planning a wedding.**

* * *

_Life couldn't be more perfect._

It was a thought Helga had been having a lot lately, and every time that thought would scamper its way into her mind, a dorky smile would appear on her face, and every time that dorky smile would appear on her face, she would reach over to her left hand and pinch the silver diamond ring and start to fiddle with it.

Today was the day. Today was the day that Olga got back from her trip to Los Angeles with her fiance to get the stuff she left back at her apartment. She was moving back to Hillwood, and would be living at the Boarding house, assuring both her and Arnold that it was just temporary till she finds a place of her own. After getting released from rehab, shortly after Phoebe's wedding, Olga had told them over lunch that she had decided to be a councilor to 'at risk' teens and young adults. With her teaching in Alaska that she gave up on, she already qualified for a job that had opened up at Dr. Bliss' old office.

This news got Arnold thinking about his own career choice. And, after a two weeks of mysteriously walking on egg shells around her, he finally sat down and told her what he wanted to do. '_Veteran suicide rates are higher than they've been in fifty years__,' _were his first words. He had told her that he wanted to be a psychiatrist for soldiers returning home, and she couldn't be more proud of him.

While Phoebe was still a blissful ignoramus, due to her still fresh matrimony, Helga was no better.

Three months ago, her fiance had stood in front of everyone in their class, along with numerous others they had never met, and declared that he was ready to commit himself to her completely, that _she _was the love of his life, and that he wanted her to marry him, in so many words. While she never expected them to break up, a proposal was not at all what she was expecting, especially not at their best friends wedding reception. She can still remember with vivid detail the way her body quaked when his eyes met hers while he was giving his speech, the way they were so full of hope, of love, of certainty.

She can still remember they way her breath lurched into her throat as he stopped in front of where she was sitting, and got down on one knee, pulling open the lid of the small box that held her engagement ring. What was more amazing was that somehow, the ring fit perfectly, and after grilling Phoebe, asking if she knew that he was going to propose, and if he asked for her ring size, she denied it profusely, saying that she had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Today, he got back from Los Angeles with Olga. She missed her big sister, but this was the longest time they had spent apart since she returned from Africa. He had gone with her to help make sure she didn't fall into old habits, and give into temptation. He had been gone three weeks now, and she was eagerly awaiting his arrival by laying across the couch, feet propped up on one arm, her head lying on the other.

It was quiet for a Saturday afternoon. Since Arnold had decided to pop the question at the wedding, one of the guests, named Rhonda, shoved through the people congratulating them on their engagement, offering to plan the _whole _thing, including designing both her dress, and the brides maids dresses. And since the boarding house was quiet, she had time to make good on their arrangement.

When she went with them to the air port, Arnold had taken her hands as they were boarding, and told her that he would think about a date while he was gone, and he asked her to do the same, and that when they got back, he would tell her his date, and she would tell him hers, and she had her's already picked out. She had given the bulk of planning the wedding to Rhonda, who, once Helga had agreed to it, had sent a barrage of ideas to her.

Luckily, she hadn't heard from her all week. It wasn't so exhausting having someone else plan your wedding for you, but Helga had twisted Rhonda's arm to make sure that all the major things would be ran by her before finalization. And luckily, Phoebe had agreed to over see Rhonda's planning when she was free, knowing she knew her best friends tastes.

Helga let out another long sigh and looked over to the clock, it read just a few minutes past one o'clock. Their flight didn't get in until one thirty, and the air port was a half an hour drive, which would officially make this the longest hour of her life so far.

There was one matter that she hadn't dealt with yet, and that was the one hundred twenty five thousands dollars that was sitting in a bank account that had her name on it. It was a topic of discussion that hadn't been ventured to between them. She hadn't heard from Bob at all, and she didn't feel any loss from this. Arnold had told her that he had given him his number, but she paid it no mind. Olga didn't know about the money, but she was going to bring it up tonight. She wanted to just sign over the account to her, and not have to think about it again. Olga could use the money more than she could, after all, she was living at the boarding house.

She did have the temptation to take that money and use it to pay for the wedding, going on the old rule that the brides parents pay for the wedding, but she never could go through with it, and that was the one time that the topic had been brought up between them. Arnold had told her that what ever she wanted to do with the money was up to her, and he would back her one hundred percent, like any good husband would. And _that _conversation had a very happy ending, it being the first time he referred to himself as her husband.

She shook her head of the troubling, and yet pleasant thoughts and clasped her hands on top of her stomach, and twiddled her thumbs. It had been a boring several weeks without anyone around. But, she took advantage of the time, and the solitude, to write. It wasn't a novel or anything, simply a few hundred thousand words put in an order that made it look like it was, and since you're your own worst critic, it was terrible.

But it was something just for her, it was just venting.

She closed her eyes after tracing patterns on the ceiling for too long, and let out a long breath through her nose. She didn't hear the cab pull up outside, or the two people get out of the cab.

* * *

Outside however, Arnold was very jittery with anticipation. Olga had been giggling herself crazy the whole cab ride, saying it was so cute how excited he was to see her baby sister again. He couldn't handle being apart for so long. Even though they called each other every night, it just wasn't the same as falling into bed with her, or coming up behind her and snaking his arms around her waist and sensually kissing her neck in the morning.

He quickly jumped out of the cab, as Olga paid the driver and got out the other side. Arnold looked up to the door, half expecting it to fly open and to have her tackle him to the ground like she said she would on the phone last night. He heard Olga set the large suit case down on the ground next to him, startling him out of his day dream. He reach over and picked it up, along with the next one that she was hoisting out. As she set a few small boxes down on the ground, and closed the cab's trunk, he let her go ahead of him and up the stairs of his stoop.

She pulled out the key that Arnold had given her, and stuck it in the lock. "I wonder if Helga heard us," She mused.

* * *

Back inside, she could have sworn she had just heard what sounded like a key being pushed into the dead bolt. Helga looked over to the clock again and saw that it was only fifteen past one, _couldn't be them. _She heard the fiddling with the knob again, and a wave of adrenaline shot through her. She quickly got to her feet and frantically looked around for something that looked hard enough to crack a human skull.

In a panic, she grabbed her shoe off the ground and held it behind her head by the toe, and crept into the entry way, ready to strike the intruder. The door knob turned, and the door squeaked open, and her grip on her shoe tightened, and she rocked it further back.

She was just about to strike the intruder when the door flew open, to reveal her sister, not looking at her, and instead looking down to pick up a piece of luggage. Helga stood frozen in the entry way, seeing that neither her nor the person behind her had seen her threatening them with a shoe. Olga took a step inside and stopped.

"Helga... what exactly are you doing?" Olga asked, looking at the grappling position her sister was in, with a shoe in the air.

"Uh..." She began, still clutching the shoe, "Hi." Helga looked back at the shoe she had in her hand, and then back to Olga's blank expression and wide side eyes. She quickly tossed the shoe aside and smiled. "Sorry about the um... it's just that I wasn't expecting you until two."

"Our flight went quicker than originally planned."

"Olga, do you mind moving over a bit, I have about three hundred pounds worth of your stuff in my hands." Helga's insides erupted with butterflies at the voice coming from outside on the stoop. She balled her fists up and felt a smile break out onto her face.

Olga noticed this and quickly stepped off to the side, just as Helga ran forward.

The instant he saw her charging towards him, he haphazardly dropped the suitcases he was carrying and opened his arms to her. She jumped into him, and shot her arms fully around his neck, while he squeezed her midsection and spun her in a circle. She giggled with joy into the crock of his neck and he set her back down on the ground, but she didn't let him go.

"I missed you so much," He whispered in her ear, pressing his lips to her skin.

"You have no idea." She murmured into him as she squeezed him a little tighter. She could never get over how safe she felt in his arms, how he was able to build them their own little world away from everything just by wrapping his arms her.

Her death grip in his neck slackened, and he leaned back, but didn't get a chance to see her face clearly again when she quickly leaned back up and pressed her lips to his as hard as she could. He inhaled a sharp breath through his nose at the sudden contact and returned her kiss eagerly by squeezing her into him again and lifting her up into the air, making her chuckle into his mouth.

Sure, they were both love sick fools, but they were happy love sick fools.

He set her back down to earth again, and let her lips go with a soft plunk. She leaned back with a twinkle in her eyes, "So, how was the trip?"

Arnold shrugged, "It was alright, I got to know your sister a lot better. She showed me around town, we went down to Santa Monica, and walked along the pier, she dragged me to the Chinese theater, and all those other touristy places."

She gave him a coy smirk and lowered her brow, "What, did you fall for her or something?" He could tell by her tone that she was joking, but he never could pass up an opportunity to be charming.

He reached down and lifted her left hand up to his lips, "I gave you this because I have already fallen beyond the point of redemption." He pulled her fingers up to his lips, and softly pressed them to her engagement ring.

She scoffed playfully and rolled her eyes, "You're such a sap."

"Yes, but I'm _your _sap." He replied with a grin.

She shook her head with a smile and kissed him again. She turned around to her sister, who was leaning against the wall of the entryway, her arms crossed, one leg casually tossed over the other, and a Cheshire grin on her face. "Hey, big sister."

"Hi baby sister!" They embraced each other a tight hug, and shook each other from side to side. Arnold watched with a smile on his face, as he grabbed Olga's bags and heaved them inside.

* * *

After settling in, which took a good three hours, Arnold and Helga finally found themselves on the couch, with her leaning back against the arm, with him leaning back into her, his head resting comfortably against her abdomen, along with her fingers slowly running themselves through the unruly mess he called a hair due. Olga had come down a half an hour before hand and offered up the idea to order pizza, which had just arrived with a knock on the door. They both groaned at the sound, knowing that it meant one of them would have to get up.

But before they could act on it, Olga was calling downstairs, "I'll get it!"

Both breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed back into each other. While Olga was answering the door, Arnold quickly thought of something. "Oh, I almost forgot about our deal."

"What deal?"

"The one we made right before I left."

There was a pause as her ministrations on his hair stopped for a moment, "Oh,"

"Listen," he brought his hand down and ran it soothingly along her ankle, "if this is moving too fast, then we can talk about it when your ready."

"No... no, it's not that. I picked a date, it's just the date I picked kind of has... meaning."

"Okay, what date did you pick?"

"May 17th."

The date did ring a bell, but he couldn't place where he heard it before, "Where have I heard that date before?"

"That was the day my mother died."

That sent a small shiver up his spine, and he played his next words in his head, making sure they were chosen carefully. "Why that day?"

"That day has meant a lot of things to me, but never has it meant something good. I want that day to be special, I want it to be significant in another way. I want it to symbolize that despite everything I went through, all the hardships, all of the bull shit, I still found my happy ending." There was another pause in her speech as he continued to run his hand along her ankle that lay in his side. "That's why I chose that day." He smiled to himself a warm smile, and reached up to entwine his fingers with the ones that lay limp against his chest.

"May 17th it is."

"No, wait, what day did you pick?"

"I picked September 17th." He answered with an obvious smirk.

"Arnold, that's today."

"I know."

She chuckled and pressed a kiss to his lips as Olga came in with two pizza boxes and set them down on the coffee table. "Helga, there is a little matter I want to discuss with you."

"What's that?"

Her older sister walked over and sat in the chair across the room and crossed her legs, oddly looking serious. "The one hundred twenty five thousand dollars that's you have sitting in a bank account."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I should have clarified something in the first chapter. This story will be written through both Helga and Arnold's perspective, while All the Difference in the World was written strictly in Arnold's perspective. It's just better for the story telling. **

**And, to make the plot line make a little bit more sense, I decided to up the rating because of this chapter. THIS CHAPTER HAS SEXUAL CONTENT, PLEASE BE ADVISED. **

**Please read, and review, let me know if I'm doing a good job? :)**

* * *

Helga, having just been shaken from her very comfortable place on cloud nine where she was snuggling with her fiance, shook her head slightly at Olga's question. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Helga. I know all about the money that Dad took and stuck in a bank account for you to go to college on, and I _also _know that you refuse to touch it. Now, Helga, I now you have your unshakable principles, but not only are you planning your dream wedding, you are putting yourself through college, which I know from personal experience, can be _very _expensive. I know that you want nothing to do with that man, but I don't want to see you drop out of school the first time you see a student loan paper."

"Olga, I can make it without any help from Bob. I don't need his money. If he hadn't taken that money in the first place, Mom would probably still be alive." Helga argued, pushing Arnold off of her and sitting forward.

"I know that, Helga, but what would Mom want you to do? Sit here buried in debt just to prove a point, or use what you have at your disposal and go to school, and also... have the wedding you always dreamed of."

"If I take that money, then I'm giving into him. I'll just owe him something in return."

"Now you're just making excuses."

"Olga, you need the money more than I do, I was going to sign the account over to you."

"What do I need the money for? And if you _do _sign it over to me, I'll march down to that school and pay your tuition myself, whether you want me to or now." Olga said, with a confident smile, as she crossed her arms, and leaned back in the chair, effectively ending the discussion. Olga was always so laid back, bright and happy, that Helga always over looked the fact that she was still a Pataki. And whether she liked it or not, she had some of her father's genes in her.

Helga let out a sigh and leaned back, "You're not giving up on this, are you?"

"Nope..."

She reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose , "Alright, I'll use it to pay my tuition, but that's _it! _When we get married, I do not want any one in the tri-state area to even breathe the name Bob Pataki. It's my wedding day, and I do not want him anywhere _near _me when I put the 'and we all lived happily ever after' on my life."

Olga held up her hands in surrender, and nodded, "You got it, baby sister."

She nodded, and an awkward silence fell over the trio, giving Helga's mind time to come up with a thought. "Olga..."

"Yes?" She replied as she got up and opened the lid of the top pizza box.

"How exactly _did _you find out about that bank account?" She asked, looking off to her side to give Arnold a very pointed look.

"Arnold told me." She said lightly.

Helga lunged forward with one eye brow raised, but he stopped her with his hand held up to stop her, "Not true! Not true, she _pried _it out of me. I've been gassed, I've been shot at, and I've even had people try to blow me up, but _that _woman would not let up until I told her everything, I _swear!_"

"Don't get mad at Arnold, baby sister. We just sat down over a cup of coffee, and had a nice polite conversation."

"Polite?! It was like she chained me to the springs from the inside of a mattress and hooked it up to a car battery in her mind. I don't know how she did it, but the next thing I was aware of, I had told her everything. And somehow, she even got me to tell her about the pajamas with the teddy bears on them I used to wear."

Helga was angry, but at the last statement, she had to fight really hard to stifle her laughter. While Olga's laughter was coming in small giggles, Helga's was coming out in snorts. Unable to contain herself any longer, Helga burst out laughing, imagining him now, standing six feet tall, standing it very tight fitting, baby blue pajamas with little brown teddy bears on them.

After a solid minute of laughing, Helga wiped a tear from her eye, and reached over to grab a piece of pizza from the box. "You tell her anything else, while you were at it?"

"Honestly Helga, you're the only thing he talked about the _entire _time. He just went on and on about how much he missed you, and we hadn't even landed in LA yet."

"Aww," Helga cooed over to him jokingly.

"I am not ashamed to admit that I missed you, probably more than what is considered healthy. But, come on, Helga, you have to look at it from my perspective. The last time we spent that long apart, you flew off to Africa, and I flew off to Afghanistan. So forgive me if I was a more than a little apprehensive about it."

The conversation turned light, as Olga recounted their time in LA, not sparing any details. And pretty soon, Arnold was starting to nod off after a few pieces of pizza. Just as Olga was finishing up her story about their visit to the board walk, his head fell into her lap, and he nuzzled himself into her. Olga chuckled and grabbed up the half empty pizza boxes.

Helga reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, and he let out a long moan. And with his cheek nuzzled into her thigh, she received a thought. This not only had been the longest time they had spent apart since they got together, it was also the longest time they had spent without making love to each other. "You know, honey, I think I'm going to go take a shower."

"Kay..." He mumbled.

Obviously not taking the hint, she continued, being a lot less subtle about her intentions. "You uh... care to join me?"

She saw his eye brows shoot up as he twisted himself to lay on his back, his head still lying back against her leg. "Are you suggesting... that we have sex in the shower?"

She scoffed broadly, and put her hand against her chest in feigned insult, deciding to play with him a bit. "What, do you consider me a prude? What if I simply wanted to cut down on water usage, what if I want to be more ecologically friendly, or what if I just want to save some money and cut down on the water bill?" Arnold simply looked at her with a dead panned expression, not buying into it for a second. "But yes, I _am _suggesting that we have sex in the shower."

"I don't know, Helga. Doesn't that sound a little cliche? Besides, I just got off of a _very _long flight, I changed time zones four times, and have a serious case of jet lag. I'm tired. All I really want to do is to go upstairs, get into our bed, wrap my arms around you, and drift off to sleep, because your pillow hasn't been cutting it."

"My pillow?"

"I stole it and stuffed it into my suit case the morning we left. I switched it out for one of mine. It was the only way I could get a decent night sleep."

Helga's heart soared at his small confession, which actually made a lot of sense, she had been wondering why her pillow was a bit less fluffy. "Okay, now I'm not letting you go to sleep."

"I'll tell you what, first thing in the morning, very first thing, I promise."

"Okay..." She said on a broad sigh. "I'll just go upstairs," She started to get up, "and get in the shower, alone..." She got to her feet and started to saunter her way past him very slowly, making sure to put a little swing in her hips as she went, knowing he would be watching her, "And I'll be in the shower," She got to the threshold, and leaned forward against it, giving him a devilish smirk, "alone... with hot, scalding water cascading down my skin, letting the steam envelop me, as I let the water pierce its way down my curves. So," She pressed off the threshold and started out of the room, "I'll just be in the shower... alone... if you ne- Ooo!"

She yelped in surprised as his hands gripped her sides and started to push her up the stairs. As she quickly jumped up the stairs in glee, with his hands tickling her sides, still rushing her up the stairs, she was quite proud of herself that her word play had actually worked on him. "I thought you were tired."

He grabbed onto her wrist and spun her around, slamming her into the bathroom door in the process. "Just being environmentally friendly," He quipped as he descended on her lips hungrily. As his soft lips worked over hers, with his warm hands reaching down to cup her ass and hoist her up, she was vibrating with anticipation. Even after just about a year of being with him, she still got that shot of electricity through her muscles every time their lips met. A sudden creak of the stairs startled her, but not enough to let him relent in his devouring of her lips. She reached down and the door flung open.

They staggered backward, after shoving the door shut, and he began to work the hem of her shirt. "And besides," He spoke against her lips, "Technically speaking, we did just have a fight."

She chuckled dryly against into his mouth, just as he yanked her shirt off of her. "Meaning that it's time for..." She trailed off, keeping her eyes locked with his as she sauntered backwards towards the shower, and reached down to turn on the water. He smiled that devilish grin he had whenever they were about to throw each other against the nearest surface, and flung his shirt off, then tossed it aside.

She bit her bottom lip and admired the view he was providing her, his muscles lightly tones, with a light trail of hair leading down his chest. She felt her insides quiver as he took a few slow steps toward her. He came to a stop a few inches away from her, and reached behind her, and into the shower, putting his hand under the stream, while his other ghosted past her sides and up the dip of her spine, coming to rest at the strap of her bra.

With a quick flick of his wrist, her bra fell to the floor, and she shivered as the humidity of the room hit her bare chest. He pulled her toward him and pressed his lips to her neck, the sudden contact making her head swim. She slapped her hand down against his back as he was kneading the flesh on her neck with his tongue, feeling his palms slide down her sides, and before she knew it, her jeans were falling to the floor, and with a few light tugs, so were her panties.

She stepped backward into the hot stream of water, and looked at him through the steam, letting her hands slide her her front seductively. He unbuttoned his own jeans and shoved them to the floor, his erection bobbing back into place, as he stepped under the stream. He stopped a few inches in front of her while she weaved her arms around his shoulders. "I love you," He said casually.

She smiled brightly as his hands started to slide up her sides. "I love you too."

He quickly captured her lips as he pressed her against the tiled wall, one hand sliding down to grip the back of her thigh and pull it up to wrap around him, her ankle hooking itself around his calf. He pressed his two fingers to her inside hip, and slide them down her wet skin until they were at her folds, slowly sliding his middle finger inside her, making her gasp slightly in surprise as he curled his finger.

After sliding his finger into her a few more times, with her already starting to squirm, he pulled his finger out and took a step forward, pressing himself to her. He pressed an open mouthed kiss against the underside of her jaw, already growing impatient by the feeling of his warm breath against her like that, just before he quickly pushed into her with a forceful thrust. She threw her head back against the tile with a loud moan.

He sat inside her for a moment, just before he reached down to pull her other leg up to wrap around his waist, her weight now fully supported by him pressing into her. She knew this was going to be quick the moment he stepped into the shower with her. They had both gone without each other for several weeks, and there's only so much you can do with 'self-service'. He pulled out of her and slammed himself back into her, letting out a sharp groan as he did so. After repeating this gesture a few more times, the music of their bodies picked up in tempo, and soon, the only thing they could do was cling to each other, unable to stop their motions.

As her skin began to tingle, the lips on her neck feeling a thousand times better when this hypersensitiveness set in, she squeezed his waist between her thighs as his own body became tightened, and stiff, his thrusts short, untimely and erratic. Watching the bright colors dance behind her eye lids, feeling him pulsate and throb inside her just as her insides tightened around him, he spilled into her.

As he began to slowly slide out of her, the scalding water against her flushed skin made her body very shaky while the aftershocks of her orgasm still rocked her body, the only thing keeping her up were his hands tightly gripping her legs. His grip slackened as she set her feet back onto the floor of the tub, letting her arms fall limply to her sides. She slouched against the tile and let her head fall forward against his shoulder as he reached up to cradle it.

"This was a good idea," He muttered into her ear.

She let out a light huff of air resembling a chuckle, "Yeah... it was."

"Were you actually planning on taking a shower, or did you just want to have sex?"

She chuckled again and laid her arms up on his shoulders, tossing her head back to rest against the tile, "I just wanted to have sex, but now, I could use a shower."

They laughed and proceeded to actually shower, as he took his time to massage her body with the body sponge, then her scalp with her apple scented shampoo, and she did the same, kissing every spot on his skin just before she ran the soap over it. They climbed out, and wrapped each other in a pair of towels after drying each other off. She reached down and grabbed his t-shirt, and pulled it on, along with her underwear, while he pulled on his pants, and gathered the rest of their scattered clothing.

She opened the door to the bathroom, and he followed her out into the hall way to head up to their room. "Have fun you two?" Came a light, giggling voice from the stairway.

They both looked over in shock, to see Olga walking towards them, an obvious smirk on her face. A blush erupted onto her face, inferring to herself that Olga had obviously heard them. Olga passed them and opened the door to the room she had chosen, and closed the door with a wink.

Arnold cleared his throat behind her, "Well... that was awkward." He whispered.

"I'm never going to live that down." Helga mumbled as she drudged her way up the attic stairs.

* * *

As they laid on their bed, staring up through the skylight, both clothed in their sleepwear, her head resting against his shoulder, enjoying the way he was sliding his fingers back and forth across her stomach, she knew that tonight would be the first time in three weeks she would sleep restfully. "So you're really going to use that money?" He asked.

Helga sighed heavily, "I don't want to. It feels like I'm getting too much of a free ride, and the fact that it's all because of Bob only makes it worse."

"I know, but do you really want to spend the next forty years paying off your student loans?"

"Well, no, but I didn't want my father to bail me out of it all either." She heard his head lift off the pillow, and she could feel him looking at her in surprise. She craned her neck back to look at him. "What?"

"That's the first time you've referred to Bob as your father."

Her eyes widened a bit, and she started to scold herself for being so careless. "So? I-it's no big deal."

The issue of her father was always a sensitive subject, one that they never broached. But hearing her actually call Bob 'her father' was a first. He didn't want to read that much into it, but he couldn't help but feel hope for the situation. He knew Olga was going to try and reconnect with him, since he gave her Bob's number while they were gone. But he urged her not to bring Helga into it, and never to bring Bob around the boarding house. He was even afraid to even mention the fact that Olga had decided to call him to her.

He was sure that Olga would talk about Helga if Bob asked about her, but she had told him that she would respect her and Arnold's privacy, and not mention anything about them to Bob. But the fact that your youngest daughter is getting married is something you can't keep hidden forever.

He was brought out of his struggle by a faint snore. He looked down and found her fast asleep. He smiled warmly and kissed her hair, and shut his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: not in this chapter, but the next one, I will introduce the _real _plot point that I planned out for this story. I hope you like it! Review to tell me what you think!**

* * *

Arnold crept his way downstairs, hearing someone bustle around the kitchen as he dropped down the last step. He wasn't sure who it was, since he woke up alone, and the bathroom was occupied. He stepped into the kitchen and he smiled at what he saw. Standing in front of the stove, still clad in her pink flannel sweat pants, and loose fitting 'Hillwood University' t-shirt, blonde hair cascading down her shoulders in care free curls, was his fiance.

He tossed his hands into the pockets of his own sweatpants, and leaned against the entryway, drinking her in. As the faint sound of her humming came to him, he quietly sneaked up behind her, gently placing his hands on her sides, and snaked one arm around her, while his other reached up to her hair to brush it off to the side so he could lean down and kiss her neck sensually. He could feel her melt into him the instant his lips made contact.

Helga always did melt whenever he would do that. She didn't mind at all that he couldn't seem to keep his hands off her lately. Even when they were dating they were never this sensual, and she just assumed that the butterflies would die out with time, but she still got them every time she felt his skin make contact with hers. She let out a low moan as he continued to lightly press kisses to her neck, and reached up behind her and ran her fingers through his hair, enjoying how soft it felt. He wrapped his other arm around her and hugged her into him. "What'cha doin?" He asked as he placed his chin on her shoulder.

"Making pancakes, I thought since you two have been eating out for the past few weeks, you would enjoy something home made. And I needed a distraction from my having to tell Rhonda that we finally set a date for our wedding." She ran her hand down his forearm and flipped over one of the pancakes that was in the pan.

"She still driving you crazy?"

"You have _no _idea. She's been buzzing around in my ear ever since you left, asking if we set a date. I may need moral support for when I call her this morning."

"I can call her for you if you want, I am studying to make a living with difficult people."

She laughed and let her head fall back against his shoulder. "I appreciate the offer, but she's going to ask me a whole bunch of wedding questions about save the dates, what color paper, and a whole bunch of stuff you probably wouldn't know the answer to."

"Hey, it's not that I wouldn't know, I just chose to remain blissfully ignorant until the time comes when I'm absolutely needed for the planning."

"Speaking of blissfully ignorant, how was my sister in LA, I mean really?"

He let out a heavy sigh and snaked his arms further around her midsection. "There was a time when it got a bit rough. We were packing up her bedroom, and she started telling me a story of an audition she had. She went in to this guys office, she sat down, and he started telling her how great she looked for the part, and that she would be a great fit, then he asked her to read off a few lines, and after she did that, he smiled and said that they would continue in the other room, to see if she had what it took." He felt her grow cold in his arms as she realized what he was getting at. "It was an audition for a porn shoot. One of the few auditions she had while she was in LA turned out to be just because of her looks. She broke down right there in front of me, and I couldn't do anything but wrap an arm around her and watch."

"She's been through a lot, we all have. But she's still a Pataki, we're known for being resilient."

"You mean stubborn..." She giggled and elbowed him in the stomach.

"You love my stubbornness and you know it."

"Wouldn't have you any other way." He kissed her cheek just before he let her go and walked over to the cupboard to get out a coffee mug.

Breakfast went on in relative silence, with Olga coming down to join them just as Helga finished pouring the last of the batter in the pan. And while Arnold was grabbing the dishes and walking over to the sink to wash them, Helga went over to the phone and made the call to Rhonda that she had finally set a date. Two hours later, Helga walked into the living room and sat down next to her fiance. "Hey, Rhonda needs me down at her studio. She said she has started the beginning stages of my dress and she needs my stamp of approval before she continues, so I'll be back this afternoon, okay?"

"Okay, let me know if she needs anything from me."

She kissed him chastely and went out the door. When it came to Rhonda, he didn't know what to expect. They haven't even agreed on what type of location yet, and she hadn't even decided on her maid of honor. He could tell that she was really struggling with the decision, whether it be Phoebe of Olga. While Olga was her sister, and they both loved each other very much, Phoebe might as well have been her sister. But he on the other hand, had no problem picking his best man, and Gerald was very happy to accept the responsibility of having to throw his best friend a bachelor party.

There was a sudden knock on the door and Arnold pushed himself up to answer it. He flung open the door and saw Eddie looking very dejected on his stoop. "Hey man, what's up?" He asked.

"Hey Arnold, mind if I come in?" Eddie asked. This must be bad, Eddie _never _called him by his actual name unless something was very wrong. It was usually Bright side, and with Eddie not having called him by his nick name, Arnold's concern was switched on.

"Yeah sure, come on in." He ushered his old friend inside, and closed the door behind him as Eddie dragged his feet into the entry way. "Is everything okay?"

"Arnold, I need your help. It's.. it's about me and Courtney." At the sight the sadness in Eddie's eyes, Arnold placed a hand on his shoulder and ushered him over to the couch, and sat down next to him. "Courtney uh... she decided that the best thing for us to do... is to split up. We're getting a divorce."

"Oh Eddie, I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do?" It was no secret that his wife and him had been having trouble lately, but he had faith that they would work it out, if not for them, then for their son, Tyler.

"Nah, it's already been finalized." Eddie stated as he leaned back into the couch and ran a hand over his hair.

"What about Tyler?"

"We both agreed on joint custody. She's living in town with her parents for now, and Ty's with them now until everything's settled down a bit more. I was uh, I was wondering if you could talk to him for me. See, I don't know how he's handling all this, and I know from experience how badly a divorce can affect a kid that age, and I don't wanna see him go through what I did. He looks up to you Arnold, maybe you can help him out."

"Actually, Helga's sister, Olga, is working on becoming a councilor for kids going through this kind of thing. And her parents went through one of the worst divorces I've ever heard about. Maybe she could help?"

"I don't know, Brightside, I mean... no offense but, Helga's not exactly good with kids, is her sister any better?"

"Olga is Helga's exact opposite, she's great with kids. You want to meet her?"

"If it will make you feel better..."

Arnold stood up and ran upstairs to Olga's door, and knocked lightly a few times. "Yes?" She beckoned from the other side of the door.

"Hey Olga, are you busy? There's someone here I'd like you to meet."

Olga opened the door with her usual bright smile, "Really, who?"

"He's an old army buddy of mine, he's downstairs. Now, he's going through a divorce, and he has a four year old son, and he asked me to talk to him. I thought that since you're working on being a youth councilor, it would be better if you helped him. I'm like an uncle to him, it might be easier for him to open up to someone he isn't familiar with."

Olga smiled softly and placed her hand on his upper arm. "I'd be honored." They made their way downstairs, and Olga was the first to enter the living room. "Hi, I'm Olga Pataki, Arnold's future sister-in-law."

Eddie seemed to be entranced by the significantly taller blonde woman as he pushed himself off of the couch and slowly extended his hand toward hers. "Hi, name's Eddie Valentino, Ms. Pataki." Eddie's voice had suddenly grown low and monotone as he stared wide-eyed at the woman who was towering over him a good five or six inches.

"Arnold told me about your son, and thought I might be able to help."

"Uh..." Eddie shook his head a bit, "Yeah, my wife and... well, _ex-_wife are getting divorced and we have joint custody of my son, Tyler. See, my parents went through a divorce when I was that age, and I almost ended up on the streets. I don't want my son to end up like I did. So I was wondering if I can get him to talk to someone, and Arnold here says you might be able to."

"I would love to meet your son, Mr. Valentino. Just name a time and a place, and I will meet Tyler, and see what I can do."

"That would be great, I really appreciate this Ms. Pataki. How's about four o'clock tomorrow afternoon? Courtney's mom is suppose to drop him off at our apartment in the morning."

"I'll be there." Olga said with a friendly smile. Eddie smiled back and nodded, "And please, call me Olga."

Eddie's smile turned nervous, "I'll remember that." Olga made her way back up to her room, leaving Arnold to look over to his friend and raise an eye brow. "What's that look for?"

"You seemed pretty enamored by my sister in-law for a minute back there, Eddie." He said, crossing his arms and taking a step forward. "You do realize that you're going through a divorce right now, don't you?"

Eddie rolled his eyes and shrugged, "Hey, I just wasn't expecting her to be so good looking, okay?"

Arnold narrows his vision down at him for a moment, "Just make sure you keep your tongue in your mouth when she comes over tomorrow, okay? That _is _my sister you just gawked at."

* * *

"Now, honey, keep in mind... that this is just the _very _beginning of your dress, just a rough idea. I just wanted to get your approval before I go any further." Rhonda said as she pulled Helga into a room in her studio, with rolls of fabric and sewing tools strewn about the room, with a mannequin covered by a sheet in the middle of the room.

"Okay..."

Rhonda clapped her hands together and sauntered around the mannequin, and gripped the sheet with two hands. "Three, two..."

"Get on with it!" Helga demanded. Rhonda scoffed and flung the sheet off the mannequin and Helga's heart skipped a beat at what she saw. She didn't expect something this simple from Rhonda, but it looked beautiful, even for just being a rough idea. The dress was strapless, the top being made up of a single piece of white silk going across the chest, with the hem going down to the floor. "Now, I was thinking of putting some pearls around this part in sort of a slow spiral pattern, and I was also thinking of a lace going up to the collar, but I was going to leave that up to you."

"I wasn't expecting this, Rhonda."

Obviously noticing her smile, Rhonda clapped her hands together in pride. "Yes! So, you like it?"

"I love it..."

"I am going to make you gorgeous!"

* * *

Helga returned back to the boarding house after a preliminary fitting, and stepped into the living room to find her beloved fiance staring off into space on the couch. "Hey,"

He looked up and smiled sadly, "Hey..."

"Everything okay?" She asked as she plopped down next to him, turning her front to lean into his side.

"Yeah, it's just..." He trailed off and lifted his arm to drape over her shoulders, "Eddie stopped by right after you left."

"Really? How's he doing?"

"Him and Courtney are getting a divorce."

"What?!" She had met Courtney once or twice, and she liked the woman, she was down to Earth, she seemed to love Eddie very much, but she also knew that her and Eddie had their fair share of problems. She had also met their son, and while Arnold was great with him, even being a little taken aback when he had called him 'Uncle Arnold', she never felt comfortable around kids. She knew what it was like to have your parents split up, and while this is different circumstances, her heart still went out to the boy. "How's Tyler doing?"

"That's the reason Eddie came over. He wanted me to talk to him, but I told him that Olga was becoming a youth councilor, and she agreed to meet with Tyler tomorrow afternoon." Arnold paused and started to run his hand up and down her upper arm. "Eddie always talked about her when we were stationed together, they've been together since high school, and he proposed to her while we were on leave just before we went on tour. I still remember that he kept his wedding ring on a chain around his neck, and he would bring it out, and kiss it every time we were about to go out on a mission."

She could sense what he was thinking about, and it worried her.

"I mean, Eddie's been out just as long as I have..."

"You're worried it could happen to us..." She finished his thought softly.

He let out a heavy sigh and stopped his hand's motion, "Yeah... I mean, they both seemed in love, they even had a son together, but they still ended up getting a divorce. Aren't you the least bit worried?"

"No." It was a matter of fact. She _knew _that it wouldn't happen to them, she wouldn't give him up for anything.

"Why not?"

"Arnold, I've loved you for a _very _long time. And I always knew that we were destined to be together. And besides, I'm not letting you back out of this. You are marrying me, one way or another." She felt his chest jump as he chuckled, and he knew she had managed to evaporate his doubts.

"You really think we were destined to be together?"

"Don't you?"

"Well, I'd like to think that I played _some _part in us getting together. I don't want to let destiny take all the credit. I mean, if I had just sat around and let destiny try and get us together, we probably wouldn't be here. But, I will tell you one thing, and that's that I know there is only one person in this world that has the ability to put up with me enough to spend the rest of their life with me... and that just so happens to be you."

She lifted her head off his chest and leaned back to look into his soft, emerald eyes. "Is that your long winded way of saying you love me?"

"If you want to put it so simply, then yes."

She chuckled and put her head back down on his chest. "I love you too, football head."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So, in this chapter, I reveal the main plot device. I hope you like it, and if you are able to figure it out before the end, then I applaud you. I tried to make it so it would come as a little bit of a shocker, and not like a total slap in the face. But let me know what you think!**

* * *

Brought out of her restful slumber by the sudden feeling of bile force its way up her throat, she shot out of bed, and ran down the attic stairs and into the bathroom, falling to her knees on the floor and spilling the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl. The hot and sour taste stung her mouth as she coughed. "Everything okay, beautiful?" A groggy voice came from behind her. She turned her head to look at the doorway, to see her fiance standing at the door way, looking very concerned, but still sleepy, his hair more tousled than normal, his eyes squinted against the white light of the bathroom.

"Yeah, it's probably just the carousal Olga tried to make last night," She said in a strained voice, while pushing herself up off the floor, using the toilet bowl for support, pushing down the handle just as she got to her feet. "Emphasis on _tried." _

"You sure you're okay?" He soothed, coming up to her and running his palm up the dip of her spine.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just get back to bed." He kept his hand on her back as he ushered her back up the stairs and fell back into bed, wasting no time in resuming their very comfortable spooning position they were lying in previously. He snuggled himself into her hair again and they both feel back to sleep.

It has been six weeks since him and Olga returned from LA, and with the stress of going back to school, and planning a wedding, Helga was trying her best to take it in stride, and handle it all. But she had the best support system she could ever hope for. With her beloved future husband by her side the entire time, along with her older sister just starting up at Dr. Bliss's old office as her new position of youth councilor for the Hillwood School System began to take over her life.

Not to mention Phoebe, who had returned to Hillwood to attend graduate school, along with Gerald returning by her side, who got a job at an accounting firm for the time being. And while she was running around to her classes, writing papers, and reading lengthy assignments, she still somehow found time to stay on top of Rhonda's wedding planning, to make sure she didn't go overboard with any of it.

Helga woke up the next morning early enough to put on her work out clothes, and head out, sticking to her strict work out schedule of running two and a half miles at least four times a week. It wasn't that much, but she didn't have that big of an appetite, never consuming more than a thousand calories a day, simply because she was never that hungry.

She returned from her run twenty minutes later, after deciding to throw in an extra mile, and found Arnold in the kitchen with Olga, reading the paper. "Hey beautiful, Rhonda called again this morning. She said that she needs you for another fitting."

"Again? Geez, it's almost like she wants to get married more than I do." Arnold chuckled as he stood up from his chair and planted a kiss on her cheek as she passed over to the fridge to get a bottle of water.

"Hey Helga, there's something I wanted to ask you." Olga asked from the table, closing her section of the newspaper. Helga spun around and leaned against the far counter and took a drink of water. "You've been engaged for a few months now, and you have yet to name your maid of honor."

"Uh..." Helga's eyes went wide as she tightly clutched her water, the plastic wrinkling under her grasp. "Well, I uh..."

"Baby sister, Phoebe and I sat down, and we talked it over."

"You did?" Helga's fear now turned to confusion, while she watched Olga get up from her chair and walk over to her.

"Yes, and we decided that Phoebe should be your maid of honor. After all, she's been there more often than I have, and she has already taken over most of the responsibilities of the maid of honor anyway. And my job keeps me pretty busy, so she happily accepted the title of your maid of honor."

"You mean... you decided my maid of honor for me?" She wasn't insulted, she was just shocked to hear that the decision had been made for her.

"We both knew that you were having trouble picking your maid of honor. So, I called her and we talked about it. We even decided to both give a speech at your rehearsal dinner."

"Uh... I don't know what to say." She wasn't exactly flattered, she was being literal. She had no idea what to say. Olga simply extended her arms, and Helga stepped into them, still very confused about what had just happened. Olga skipped out of the kitchen and up to her room to get ready for work, leaving just her and Arnold in the kitchen. "That was weird. Did you know about this?"

"Honestly, no. I knew that they knew you were having trouble deciding, but I just thought they would corner you one day and make you decide. I had no idea they would decide for you." Helga pursed her lips, and took another drink of water.

Her grip on her water bottle suddenly tightened, as a sharp pain hit her stomach. She groaned and shook her head. "Do we have any antacids around here?" She asked over the pain, already searching the cupboards.

"Yeah, over here." He jumped over to one of the cupboards and handed her a large plastic bottle. She grabbed it, twisted off the top and popped a few tablets into her mouth, the chalky taste not at all pleasing. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She straightened her back, took another gulp from her water bottle, and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, just remind me never to eat another one of Olga's experiments." He laughed uneasily as he took back to bottle of antacids he had handed her. "Well, we're going to be late for class if we don't get ready soon." She kissed his check as she was walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs. He was concerned, and although it didn't take much, he still had a feeling that something was very wrong.

After climbing into the Packard, Helga and Arnold drove off to Hillwood University for her first class. His first class wasn't until ten this morning, but her's was at nine. And this semester, they didn't have a single class together, which didn't surprise him. Since he changed his major to psychology, while her's remained on English, he was glad they were engaged, and were living together, not having to sneak into each others dorm rooms and wait until the weekend to spend the day together in bed.

It wasn't until noon that he would see her again, and when that time finally arrived, he was eagerly awaiting her in the campus' cafe. She pushed open the door five minutes past noon, kissed him briefly, but didn't sit down. "I need to go over to Rhonda's for that fitting, so I won't see you until I get back home."

He sighed, honestly disappointed, and pulled her in by the waist. "I hate Rhonda."

She giggled and entwined her fingers behind his neck, "Me too, but I don't want to get stuck with planning the entire wedding."

"She's been bugging you almost everyday the last six weeks. If she's suppose to be planning this wedding, why do you have to do so much?"

"Because if she was left autonomous, you and I would both regret it. It will all die out soon, once she gets everything in place in a couple more months, then all that's left to do is for us to walk down the isle, and live happily ever after." He smiled warmly and pressed his lips to hers. He pulled back after a long moment, leaving her eyes a bit hazy. "I'll see you this evening, I love you, love."

"I love you too."

She drifted out of the cafe and down the path towards the bus stop. She sat down on the bench and waited for the bus to pull up, receiving another pain in her abdomen. It was the fourth one since this morning, and they were getting worse. She groaned loudly and pressed her arm into her stomach, pulling out the bottle of antacids she had swiped from the cupboard on their way out this morning, popping a few more into her mouth, hoping to a deity that they would work this time.

* * *

After being yanked into her studio by the forearm, Helga was shoved into Rhonda's bathroom and was told to try on the dress again. She pulled it on, and walked out for Rhonda to zip it up and get the measurements she needed. Helga stepped into the center of the room as Rhonda buzzed around her and went behind her to pull the zipper up. After a moment of feeling her work behind her, Rhonda spoke. "Um, sweetie, what have you been eating?"

"What the _hell _is that suppose to mean?" Helga spat.

"Well, honey, I'm having a bit of trouble zipping it up."

"That's impossible, I been running three miles four times a week."

"I don't know what to say, Helga, but... here, suck it real quick, maybe it's just the humidity or something." Helga sucked in her stomach, ignoring the slight pain she was feeling, and felt the dress hug against her midsection. "Alright, now let it out." She slowly released her breath, and the material tightly hugged against her.

"That's impossible..."

"Well, I would suggest you start running three miles five times a week, instead of just four. Now just, take off the dress and I'll make some minor adjustments. Don't worry your pretty little head over anything, okay?" Rhonda ripped the zipper down and Helga let out the rest of her breath, finally being able to breath again.

* * *

After taking off the dress, and returning to campus for her last class of the day, Helga was and wasn't eager to return home. She stepped off the bus just a little ways from the boarding house, and walked the rest of the way. She unlocked the front door and stepped inside. It was fairly late in the afternoon, and Olga wouldn't be back until six. Helga let her backpack fall to the floor, and made her way into the kitchen, finding her fiance at the stove. "Hey beautiful," He greeted her in her usual pet name, stepping away from the stove and kissing her chastely.

"Hey, love." She smiled and went into the cupboard for a glass, then to the fridge to pour herself a glass of orange juice, hoping it would calm her stomach. "You wouldn't believe what happened at..." Helga paused as a throbbing pain shot into her abdomen, "... at Rhonda's this..." the pain continued unmercifully, _this is more than Olga's bad cooking_, she thought as she fruitlessly tried to bite back the pain, which wasn't cutting it this time. Her already feeble grip on her glass fell, and it fell to the floor, exploding across the kitchen floor into shards.

Arnold watched in horror, as Helga dropped her glass, and doubled over, her arms clutching her stomach, her eyes squinted and squeezed shut. He was at her side in a flash, placing his arm around her tense back, and placing his other hand on her cheek to try and sooth her. "Helga, what's wrong?"

"My... my stomach..." She groaned.

"Come on, I'm taking you to the emergency room." He ordered, and she didn't fight him. She took his hand, squeezing it relentlessly as he ushered her out the door, and into the passenger seat of the Packard. Arnold sped off in the direction of the hospital, and pulled into the ER, keeping her hugged into his side. A few minutes later, he was filling out the paperwork, and ten long minutes after that, she was being called in. Once she disappeared behind the doors of the hospital, escorted by two nurses, still having no clue what's wrong, he pulled out his cell phone to call Olga.

"Hello?" Her usual friendly voice greeted.

"Olga, it's Arnold. Something's wrong with Helga."

"What is it? What's wrong?" She asked, concern _very _evident in her voice.

"I don't know. I brought her into the ER about fifteen minutes ago after she was having some problems with her stomach. She was complaining about it this morning, but I thought it was nothing more than a stomach ache. Olga, if I had-"

"Arnold, you didn't know. Now listen, is Helga with the doctors now?"

"Yeah, they took her just a second ago." His voice was becoming very shaky, and she could obviously tell.

"Okay, I just pulled up to the boarding house. I'm going to run inside for a few things, and I'll be down as soon as I can, alright?"

"Yeah, okay." He hung up and slid his phone back into his pocket. He ran his shaking hand through his hair, and sat down heavily in one of the hard, plastic chairs in the waiting room. He took a few deep breaths, as his mind conjured up all sorts of scenarios. Not knowing what was wrong with his fiance, it was crippling.

A few minutes later, Olga came running through the doors of the waiting room, frantically looking around for him. "Arnold! Have they said anything yet?"

Arnold looked up, and leaned forward against his elbows. "No, I've been sitting here for only ten minutes, but it feels like I've been here for hours. I fought for this country, and they won't tell me a damn thing." He waved a hand over to the nurse at the desk, who gave him a pointed look. Olga simply leaned back with him and sighed, agreeing with him. They sat in silence for a very long twenty minutes before Olga decided to speak.

"I'm going to go find us some coffee, who knows how long we could be here." Olga patted his knee and walked down the hall.

A doctor came out into the waiting room, looking down at a clip board. "Helga Pataki?" The older doctor asked. Arnold shot out of his seat and up to the doctor, her name sounding like music to his ears. "Hi, and you are?" The doctor asked, looking up from his clip board.

"I'm Arnold Shortman, I'm her fiance. How is she?"

"She's doing just fine, nothing you need to worry about, son." The doctor smiled.

"What happened?" Arnold asked, crossing his arms tightly across his chest.

"It was nothing more than a burst appendix. It's a very common, and very minor procedure. Both her, and the baby are doing just fine."

"The what?" He quickly asked, literally not believing what he had just heard.

The doctor's expression went blank as he averted his eyes down to the floor, taking a small step back. "Oh... judging by how far along she is, I just assumed that you knew."

"Knew... _what?_" Arnold asked, his mind going a million miles an hour as he took a step towards the doctor.

"Mr. Shortman... your fiance is pregnant."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: You guys really thought I would keep you hanging for a long time, didn't you? Ha! Well, think again!**

* * *

"So... Mr. Shortman, you really had no idea that your fiance was pregnant?" Doctor Rodes asked, sitting down in one of the chairs in the meeting room that he had pulled the shocked newly appointed father into, watching him slowly pace across the room, staring off into space.

"No... we've been so busy with the wedding plans, and with classes starting back up at school, that I guess we just... didn't have time to think about it." He muttered, not having the brain power to raise his voice any higher than a monotone mumble. He kept his stare locked onto the diamond pattern of the carpet, placing his thumb under his chin, with his index finger running across his lips, his brow in a straight line, deep in thought.

"Was she on any sort of birth control, were you two using condoms during intercourse?"

"She's been using a contraceptive ring ever since we've been together, at least... I thought she was." Arnold was still pacing, still trying to wrap his head about that she was pregnant, and deciding not even to venture into the territory that he was just told by a doctor that he's never met, that he had become a father. "How long?"

"Five to six weeks." The doctor put bluntly.

His mind flashed back to her sultry look that she gave him just before he stepped into the stream of scalding water with her the day he came back from LA. "Have you told her yet?"

"No, we haven't. We're still waiting for her to come out of the anesthesia, she'll be awake any minute. If you want, you could go in and sit with her until she wakes up, and you could be the one to tell her." Doctor Rodes offered. Arnold thought about it, and after a brief moment of thought, he decided that it would be better if she heard it from him. Considering who Helga was, it would be better if she didn't give one of the nurses a black eye. Arnold nodded, still not making eye contact with the doctor. "Alright, I'll show you to her room." He stood up, and placed a friendly hand on Arnold's shoulder, ushering him out into the hall way.

After passing a few doors and turning a corner, down a long hall that was bustling with lab coats and scrubs. Still in a daze, it took a shake of the shoulder for him to realize that Doctor Rodes had stopped him in front of a closed door. "Go on in, Mr. Shortman. The nurse will be in in about ten minutes to check on her." Arnold nodded, but the doctor remained by his side. "Is... that enough time for you two to talk?"

"I'm not sure." He murmured, staring at the door.

"Did you two ever talk about having children?" The doctor asked, and Arnold thought it an accusation until he looked over to the doctor, surprised to see him softly smiling back at him.

"No... we never even brought it up." With the million questions that were shooting through his mind, one popped out at him. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, son."

"My fiance's older sister is out in the waiting room, could you keep this whole... pregnancy thing between us? Just until we talk about it?"

The doctor smiled and nodded, "Absolutely."

He thanked the doctor and watched him walk off down the hall way. _How am I going to break it to her? She's going to kill me for this. _He was dwelling on the worst possible outcome, and he knew it. But the thing he loved most about Helga was also making this situation the hardest, and that was her unpredictability. He honestly could not fathom her reaction to being pregnant. He took a deep breath, and placed his hand on the cold steal of the handle, and using what little strength he had in him to push the door open.

There were two beds in the room, with one of them unoccupied, and neatly made. His gaze shot over to the bed on the right, and he felt his heart skip. He's known for a while that she was alright, but seeing it for real just made him want to wrap her in his arms as tightly as he could, and make the fear of losing her forever dissipate. She was lying so still, her face expressionless but to him, still beautiful. He let the door close by itself behind him, while he took a long, slow step in her direction.

The room was so still, and so silent, he could almost hear her breath. He could see the slight rise of her chest every time she would take a breath in, and then the slight fall every time she would let it out. But the thing that broke his heart the most, was that she looked so fragile. He told himself that it was an irrational thought, but it was one he couldn't shake. She was always a pillar of strength, a wall against the wind, and now, he was afraid that she would crumble under his touch.

His eyes fell to her hand that lay on top of her stomach, but slightly off to the side, and then to her ring finger, where her engagement ring still adorned her finger. She never took it off, she even slept with it on, and she was constantly playing with it, spinning it around on her finger. It was the sparkle of the stone that reminded him of her words. _I'm not giving you up that easily, Arnold Shortman. _

He smiled sadly, and mustered up the strength to grab one of the chairs against the wall, and walk over and place it at her bed side. He quietly sat down, and leaned forward on his elbows, looking down at her limp hand. He brought his hand up, and held it in mid air above hers, the fear that she would break to pieces still lingering. With his hand hovering an inch above hers, he was about to pull it away, when he saw her hand give off the slightest twitch, as if she was reading his thoughts, and was arguing with him.

He smiled and gently reached down the rest of the way, and folded his hand around hers, running his thumb across her knuckle, just like every time he would do when she was cuddled up against him. He scooted closer to her, and wrapped his other hand around hers, and brought it down to him, kissing the knuckle he had just ran his thumb across.

Given time to think, he was brought back to the reality of the situation, and it overwhelmed him. She was actually pregnant. The gravity of the thought that she was pregnant with his child just couldn't sink itself into his mind. He couldn't believe it. He had never even thought about becoming a parent, and he never asked if she had. But, if he had to guess, he'd probably say that if she had a choice, then she would probably go without having kids. And if he knew her well enough, he knew that an abortion was not out of the question.

He let out a shaky sigh, and let his forehead fall down onto her hand. He was so caught up in his overwhelmed mind that he didn't hear her give off a slight moan as she started to come to. It wasn't until he felt her hand twitch inside his that his head shot up from the bed, his eyes wide as they shot over to her. Her eyes started to flutter open, and her head started to nod towards him. She gave off one long moan, and her narrowed eyes fell upon him, and he smiled brightly, "Hey there, beautiful."

She smiled warmly, and let her eyes drift shut again, feeling her hand grasp his lightly, "Hey there, love." Her voice was strained, and airy, as if she had just woken up from a very long nights sleep.

"How are you feeling?"

"Limp... and heavy. My arm feels like it weights a ton. Who knew that an appendectomy would leave someone so drained?" He only gave her a slight smirk, and brought her hand up to his lips again, kissing it briefly, then just letting his lips sit against it. "Hey," She called, and he kissed her hand again, she could always sense when something was wrong. "What's wrong?"

"Helga..." He sat up a bit, and started to run his thumb across her knuckles again. He looked up to her eyes, and saw concern, laced with fear in her eyes. "When they did the operation, they found out something. And I wanted it to be me who told you."

"Arnold... what is it?"

He pushed out all the air left in his lungs, and closed his eyes, bracing himself to let the words fall from his mouth. "You're pregnant."

Even though his voice was just above a whisper, her eyes seemed to register his words, as they went wide in shock. "Wha... I... that's impossible, I mean... I can't be..." She seemed more shocked then when he was first told.

"Helga, it's true." He assured softly. She looked into his eyes, with an arched brow, and let her head fall back down to the pillow heavily, staring wide eyed at the ceiling. After a minute of solid silence, he began again, "Helga?"

"How could I not have noticed I was late? I mean, am I that stupid?"

"No, you're not. We've just had a lot of things going on, that's all. With Olga moving in, and classes starting back up, and the wedding, it's understandable-"

"Understandable?! How could I not know that I'm pregnant? Did they tell you how long?"

"They said your five to six weeks. Helga, I think we conceived the day I got back from LA."

"You mean... when we were in the shower?" Arnold nodded and kept his thumb running over her knuckles, in an fruitless attempt to sooth her.

"Helga, I know that we've never talked about... any of this. But I just want you to think, and for us to discuss it before you make any... rash decisions." He chose his words carefully, not willing to put his thoughts into words.

"Arnold, we can't be parents! I can't be a mother! We are still in college, and we're having a hard time just trying to plan a wedding, and you expect us to be able to raise a baby!?"

"I expect us to talk about it first, Helga. We haven't even talked about having kids when we _are _ready. And I know I can't possibly be as scared as you, but I am still scared. But no matter what happens, whatever _we _decide, I'll be right here with you. Because if you think you're doing this alone, you're wrong."

"Arnold... I... don't know if I can do this."

"Do you remember what you said to me the morning after you were attacked last year? That you weren't giving up on me so easily, well I'm not giving up on _you _that easily, Helga. I'm not going to lie and say that this doesn't change things, because it does. Whether we like it or not, our lives just got turned upside down." At this point, Arnold was on his feet, looking down at his panicking fiance, still holding her hand.

A sudden knock made them both jump, and a moment later, a short, auburn haired nurse came through the door. "How are you doing, Ms. Pataki?"

"Uh... I don't really know."

The nurse gave Arnold a knowing look, and he nodded sharply. "Well, a pregnancy will do that to you. But in the mean time, we are going to keep you here over night, just for observation to make sure that you're alright, and you'll be released in the morning. Now, I took the liberty of printing out a list of OBGYN's, and they all come highly recommended. In fact, I went to Dr. Ross. She's a really sweet lady. But, I'll leave you two. Just press the call button of you need anything. And Mr. Shortman, you can stay as long as you want, considering the circumstances."

"Thank you," the nurse smiled and stepped out of the room, and he hesitantly looked down at the paper the nurse had handed him.

"Arnold, how are we going to pay for all of this?"

"I'm a veteran, Helga. I get free heath care for life. And besides, it's not like we're hard up for money."

"I told you I'm not using that money for anything besides my tuition." She said in a cold tone.

"Helga, what choice do we have? If we plan on keeping this baby, then we're going to need all the help we can get."

"If?" She asked in an inflection that said she was honestly confused that he had brought it up.

"Well... I mean, I just thought that... you weren't exactly apposed to... uh..."

"An abortion?" He gave another nod and let his eyes fall down to the floor. "Why would you even bring that up?"

"I dont-"

"This pregnancy is something we have to live with, and I'm not taking the easy way out." She said with a scowl as she grabbed the list of doctors from his hand.

"So... we're keeping it?"

"Looks like you're going to be a father..."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So, if any of you know the specific details surrounding a pregnancy, please correct me if any of my facts are wrong. Since I'm a guy and never had to go through any of this, it's understandable that I may get a few things wrong. Feel free to let me know if I do, it would actually be a very big help. Thank you guys for reading and REVIEWING!**

* * *

Arnold was still sitting by his fiance's side, watching her sleep with a small smile on his face. Since they had decided that they are keeping the baby, he had spent the greater part of the night trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was going to be a father. There was going to be a little girl, or a little boy who would run up to him and ask him to play, he would pick them up in his arms, or hoist them onto his shoulders. He was so caught up in his fantasy of his future family, that he was startled when a soft knock on the door was heard. It wasn't until then that he remembered Olga was still in the waiting room.

He quietly pushed the chair back, and got up and answered the door. "Hey, how-"

"Shh..." He held up a finger over his lips while he shushed her, then pointed a finger over to his sleeping beauty.

Olga immediately covered his mouth with her hand, "Oh, sorry..." She whispered, "How's my baby sister doing?"

He looked back to Helga just in time to see her readjust herself slightly in her bed. She told him that under no circumstances, did she want to be the one to tell her older sister that she was pregnant, and have to deal with her squealing like a banshee in excitement. He looked back to Olga's expectant look, impatiently waiting for his answer. He started ushering her out into the hall way, and closed the door behind him. "Olga, there's something you need to know."

"What's wrong with Helga?" He could hear tears start to lace her voice, but he quickly shook her head.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong. She's just fine. Her appendix burst is all. She's getting released in the morning. But, they found something out when they did the surgery."

"What? Is she sick?" Olga was very impatient, and she obviously wanted him to spit it out.

"Olga... She's pregnant."

He watched as her blank expression slowly turned into a face splitting smile as she started to bounce in place. "Oh, Arnold!" She threw her arms around his neck in a hug. "Oh my little sister is having a baby! This is wonderful news!" Her voice was too loud, and they were starting to get pointed looks from the night staff.

"Olga!" He hissed, she looked back up to him and he placed a finger over his lips again.

"_Sorry..." _She whispered. "Aunt Olga... or may Auntie Olga... no, Aunt Olga sounds best. Oh Arnold, you're going to be a Daddy!" She hugged him again, and he was quick to start pushing her off of him. "How far along is she?"

"From what they told me, I'm guessing that we conceived shortly after we got back from LA." He hoped that she wouldn't connect the dots in front of him, but once he saw her narrowed eyes and mischievous grin, he knew she had.

"You mean when you two were in the shower together?" She said bluntly. Arnold blushed as a passing nurse, who was quite obviously eavesdropping, gave him the stink eye. He simply reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Olga, I know that you've been talking to your father," Olga's bright smile started to fade into a small frown, "but this _has _to stay between us. You cannot tell _anyone _about this. So please don't bring her a bunch of balloons with the word 'Congratulations' on them, okay?" After a sharp sigh, she gave him a nod, and he nodded back.

"Wait, Arnold... if she's a month and a half pregnant, and it's the middle of October... that would make her due date in May."

Arnold felt his stomach drop as he realized that she was right. "Oh my god..."

"And I don't know about you, but I don't think Helga wants to walk down the isle being nine months pregnant."

He let out a very heavy sigh, ran a hand through his hair, and fell back against the door to Helga's room. "I'll talk to her about it in the morning and find out what she wants to do. Listen, can you head back to the boarding house and pick up some stuff for her to change into in the morning? I'm going to sleep here tonight. I don't want to leave her alone."

Olga smiled softly again, and slowly pulled him into another hug, which this time he returned. "My baby sister is very lucky to have you, Arnold." She whispered in his ear.

"I think it's the other way around, Olga." She pulled back and rubbed his upper arm before she started down the hallway. She gave him a small wave just before she turned the corner and disappeared from sight. He pushed open the door to her room again to find Helga still sleeping, her hands clasped softly over her stomach. He couldn't help but smile at her subconscious position.

He crept back over to his chair, sitting down and scooting forward until he could lay his head down until it was lying against her leg. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Feeling her heavy eye lids start to flutter open, there was only a split second before she remembered where she was, and another second before she remembered why she was here.

If she was being honest, she didn't know how she felt about being pregnant. Her mind couldn't seem to focus on either the pro's, or the con's, it was all just a jumbled swirl of both. It seemed like a classic case of an angle and a devil arguing on her shoulder. Yes, she is pregnant before she is married, but she is engaged to be married. Yes, she is fairly young to be a mother, but she's not a teenager and still in high school, knocked up by some random class mate who turned tail and ran. In fact, she was having a child with the love of her life, and the one person she trusted more than anyone else, Arnold Shortman.

She could handle not knowing how she felt, but she still didn't know how he felt about it. He didn't show any definitive signs of either being happy or sad about it, he just seemed shocked, just like she is. And ultimately, she would make her decision based on what _he _wants to do. If he decided he didn't want to be a father, then she would do what it took to make sure he doesn't. She didn't want to trap him into anything. She didn't want to consider this a wedlock, she wanted to consider it more of a bump in the road, a shift in the tide, and one which she still couldn't tell if it was good or bad.

True, they never even brought up having kids together. And it was probably because he knew how uncomfortable she is around kids. Just the feeling of having to play along with their fantasies they have of the world made her feel like a liar. But now, they didn't have a choice. They _had _to talk about having kids, because now, that conversation was unavoidable. She had no doubt that Arnold would make an amazing father, she didn't have any doubts about _his _abilities, it was her inabilities that were scaring her.

She never had an example of a good parent to look up to, so what did she know of being a good mother? She took care of her own mother, more than her mother took care of her. And as she thought it of, having to take care of Miriam as a teenager, was not unlike taking care of an infant. She had to wipe the drool and vomit from her chin, she constantly had to clean up after her, she was in charge of making sure that Miriam was fed and clothed, since she barely had the ability to do it herself. But still, Miriam didn't absolutely depend on her for everything. She could still preform basic tasks.

It wasn't until she heard Arnold's nose whistle that she was brought out of trying to make out her thoughts. She craned her neck to look at her bedside, where she saw his face smashed into her leg, his mouth hanging open a bit. She smiled dorkishly and reached down and ran her fingers through his unkempt hair. After petting him a few times, he started to stir.

His eyes fluttered open as he pulled his head off of her leg, which caused her to immediately miss the pressure against it. He groaned as he rubbed his eyes free of sleep. "Hey beautiful."

"Morning, love." She muttered, gazing at him lovingly as he started to stretch. "You actually slept here last night?"

"I didn't want to leave you alone." She smiled again and let her head fall back to the bed. She stared up at the ceiling until she felt him grasp her hand. She looked down to her bedside again, and saw him deep in thought. "Listen, if you honestly don't want to do this, and you want t-"

"Don't." She stopped him before he could finish. "I'm not having an abortion." It wasn't that she was against it, but she didn't want to even think about it. She wasn't taking the easy way out of this, and she wasn't even sure if she _wanted _out of this.

"So... you really want us to do this? You really want to raise a child together?"

"I'm still not sure, really. I mean... it's hard to explain. I don't know if I want to do this yet. All I know is I'm not taking the easy way out. But it's not up to just me. Do _you _want to do this?"

Arnold stood up from his chair, and sat back down onto her bed, reaching over to grasp her other hands, bringing both of her's into his lap. "Helga, I know that you're going to tell yourself that you're not ready to be a mother, and that we're not ready to raise a baby, but really, who ever _is _ready? It's not like something you can completely prepare yourself for. I mean, you think that my parents were ready when they had me, or were your parents ready when they had Olga, or had you? It's a learn as you go type thing. But, I do know one thing. If we do decide that we really want to do this, then it will be a pretty amazing kid."

"Arnold, I-" She was interrupted by a hard knock on the door. "Come in."

The door flung open and a tall, thin, older brunette woman walked through the door, wearing a white lab coat over scrubs, smiling friendly at the couple. "Hi, I'm Dr. Ross." She quickly walked up to them, and extended a hand to them. She said it like they should recognize her name, but Helga just made eye contact, and let go of Arnold's hand to shake the doctors. "Nurse Jones said that you were in need of an obstetrician. So I thought I'd come down and introduce myself. Now, I assume this is your first child?"

Her mind still whirling, Helga shook her head of thoughts, and answered. "Yes, it is."

"Well, congratulations to you both. And I see that you're engaged." The doctor pointed down to Helga's left hand that was still being held by her fiance.

"Yes, we are, for about four months now." Arnold answered.

"Well, congratulations again. Now, I've been told that you're about five to six weeks along, which would only put you half way through the first trimester. So it's still pretty early. But, if you want, I can set you up for a sonogram this afternoon, if you're interested." Doctor Ross offered with an eager smile.

"Actually, I have classes today, and-"

"Actually, Helga, I called admissions to let them know you wouldn't be coming in to classes today." A familiar, airy voice came from the door way. Helga looked around the doctor to see her older sister standing in the doorway, holding a plastic grocery bag. She then looked up to her fiance, coming to the conclusion that Olga obviously knew about her pregnancy, and it was him who told her. Arnold just gave her a nervous smile and shrugged.

"Um, okay... I guess I'm free this afternoon then."

"Excellent! So, should I make the appointment?" Doctor Ross looked between her and Arnold, and put her hands out to them her palms facing them.

"Sure."

"Perfect! Why don't you two drop by my office around two thirty, and we'll take it from there." Both Helga and Arnold just smiled nervously and watched the doctor step out of the room, leaving Olga to make her way over to the bedside, setting the grocery bag down on the chair.

"So I'm guessing you know." Helga said, turning her attention over to her older sister.

"Yes, baby sister, I know. I couldn't be more happy for you, Helga! You're going to have a baby!" She cooed as she reached down to wrap her arms around her little sister. Helga simply sat there until Olga decided to release her. "But I did call your school and told them that you had your appendix taken out last night, and they said that they would notify all of your professors about your absence, and have them e-mail you your assignments. Now did you to talk about your new wedding date? Because I grabbed your cell phone when I was on my way here, and you have quite a few missed calls from Rhonda."

"New wedding date? Why on earth would I need..." It hadn't even occurred to her. If she was doing the math correctly, she would probably go into labor _during _the wedding if she were to have it when she was planning to. "Arnold, we need a new date for our wedding." She rushed, quickly going into a panic.

"Helga, it's alright. I'll talk to Rhonda, and ask about pushing the wedding date up a bit, what's a couple months to Rhonda, anyway? I mean, most of the plans should be done by now, right? You have both Rhonda, and Phoebe working on it after all."

"I don't know, I just need to call Rhonda. Where's my phone, I need to call her." She was becoming a bit frantic as she started to search around the room for her cell phone.

"Helga," His soft voice called, placing his hand against her cheek, urging her to meet his eyes. "I'll talk to Rhonda and then let you know what she says, okay? Everything is going to be okay, okay?"

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and nodded. He stood up off her bed, and took Helga's cell phone from Olga's hand, and made his way out the door.

Once outside, Arnold closed the door behind him, and called Rhonda. It rang only once before Rhonda was answering the phone. "Where the _hell _have you been? I have been trying to call you all morning! I need you to come down again for another fitting. I finished adjusting the dress."

"I'd love to, Rhonda, but I'm planning on wearing a tux."

"Arnold? Where's Helga?"

"In the hospital, she had to have an emergency appendectomy last night. Listen, the real reason I'm calling is because we need to move the date of our wedding."

"_What?! _You're telling me this _now?!_ Why the hell do you need to move it?"

"Because Helga's pregnant."

"She's _what?! _Wait, wait, wait... so _that's _why the dress wouldn't fit." Rhonda began to chuckle into the receiver, and it was a minute before Arnold could get a word in edge wise.

"Rhonda, I need to know when the soonest possible date is we can have this wedding, while still sticking to our original plans."

"Well, I'm not sure, honey. You just dropped a pretty big bomb on me, and I'm not talking about the one you planted inside of Helga."

"Rhonda..."

"I'll have to get back to you. I'll call you back this afternoon after I make some calls, okay?"

"Sure, thanks Rhonda." He hung up, and went back into the hospital room.

* * *

Once Arnold had left the room to call Rhonda, Olga sat down where Arnold was, and smiled over to her sister. "So, how does it feel to be pregnant?"

Olga seemed a lot more excited about this than she was, and considering Helga was still trying to figure this whole thing out, she didn't exactly know how to respond. "I don't know, Olga. I feel overwhelmed. I was just told that I'm six weeks pregnant, and that I had to move my wedding date so I could fit into my dress reasonably well. And to top it all off, I don't even know how to do any of this! I mean, me a mother? How am I suppose to know what to do?"

"Baby sister, you will make a great mother."

"How do you know?! You're not the one that's pregnant!"

"True, but you have one thing that no other girl has, and he's standing on the other side of that door. You two will make excellent parents, Helga. And I know you don't believe me now, and you probably won't until you actually become parents. But you just have to trust your big sister on this one. Besides, if you and Arnold ever need a break, you can always send them to Aunt Olga!"

Helga couldn't help but laugh when she called herself Aunt Olga, obviously very eager to jump at the chance to babysit for them. "Thanks big sister."

"No problem, baby sister."

* * *

"Hi, we have an appointment with Doctor Ross this afternoon, at two thirty."

"Name?"

"Helga Pataki and Arnold Shortman."

"Ah, yes Mr. Shortman, here you are. You can have a seat, she will be with you in just a couple minutes."

Arnold flashed a friendly smile, then led Helga over to one of the chairs. "So, you ready for this?"

"Ready for what? I've never done any of this before. I don't know how I'm suppose to feel." Helga stated as she sat down next to him.

"Well, if it's any consolation, neither have I." He replied with a smile, hoping to cheer her up, or at least life her anxiety, but he didn't succeed. He sighed at the pointed look he received and looked back down to his lap.

Helga's phone was suddenly ringing in her pocket, and she rug it out, her scowl still in place as she answered. "What do you want, princess?" She spat into the receiver.

"Calm down, Helga. I just wanted to call you and let you know that I have an idea for when I can make your wedding happen, while still making it fit your plans."

"Okay..."

"How's about January 12th?"

"January 12th?! That's less than three months away!"

"You wanted the closest possible date while still making it to your original plans, and that's what I came up with. That's the only date that the venue you guys wanted is available. The next available date isn't until late March. So it's either this or nothing, sweet heart."

Helga sighed, still a bit frantic, but Rhonda had been pretty good about taking care of most of the planning thus far, so why not? She could probably pull this off. "Okay, princess, make it happen." She didn't wait for a response and simply hung up, shoving her phone back into her pocket and crossing her arms. She suddenly felt a warmth on her knee, and she looked down, only to see Arnold's hand on top of it. She looked over and he had a look of worry etched on his handsome face.

"Everything's going to be okay, beautiful." He reassured.

She felt her tenseness and stress melt away at his soft voice soothing her. She reached down, took his hand in hers, and brought it up to her lips, kissing is briefly. "I know, love."

"Helga?" A female voice was calling across the office. She snapped herself out of her daze, and looked over to where the voice came from. "You two can come on in." They both stood up, but Helga still didn't let go of his hand as she led the way over to the door Doctor Ross had just beckoned them to. She walked in to see Doctor Ross sitting down on a stool in front of her computer on the left side of the room, with a table in the far corner, and a complicated looking machine next to it. "Go ahead and take a seat on the table, Helga."

She slowly walked over to the table, and climbed up onto it, letting her legs swing off the edge. It was a couple minutes of jittery silence, watching Arnold out of the corner of her eye, standing a little ways away with his arms crossed, a small smirk on his lips.

"So Helga, how are you feeling?" Doctor Ross asked as she wheeled her stool over to the table.

"I'm not sure..."

Doctor Ross chuckled a bit, "It's alright, Helga. Now, what we are going to do is take a sonogram. That's what this machine behind you does. I'm sure you've heard of it before, but put simply, it's a picture of inside the womb to make sure everything is going okay, understand?"

Helga simply nodded, shooting a glance over to her fiance for reassurance.

"Great, now if you could lie back, and lift up your shirt, we can begin."

She began to scoot back and turn so she could lie back against the table. "That's what he said that got us into this mess." She joked, hoping to make herself laugh. Doctor Ross let out a few loud belts of laughter, along with Arnold, who was chuckling a bit.

"You've got a very funny fiance, Mr. Shortman." Doctor Ross said as she made her way over to the counter and grabbed a small white tube.

"Don't I know it." He muttered.

"Now, this will be a little cold, so brace yourself." Doctor Ross placed the small white tube against Helga's bare abdomen, and covered it with the clear gel, making her shiver a bit. She reached over and turned on a switch, along with a few more buttons and dials on the machine next to her. "This will just take a second." She placed the device in her hand against Helga's abdomen, and slid it from side to side against her. After a few moments, the screen on the machine started to show a fuzzy and distorted image that neither Arnold nor Helga could make out clearly. "See that?"

By this point, Arnold had made his way over to the table that Helga was sitting back on, and was leaning forward to try and get a better look at the wavy grey and black lines on the screen. "Um... no..." Helga muttered, not looking away from the screen.

"Well, let me show you." She reached up and pointed to a small, white blip in the middle of the screen. "Right there."

Helga felt her heart skip a beat when she realized what she was looking at. Her pulse started to get a little faster, and a smile started to curl onto her lips. It was real, she was actually having a child. She was looking at a picture of her baby, of _their _baby. She looked up to her fiance, and saw him smiling brightly down at her. "Can you believe it?" She whispered, looking back at the screen.

"That's our baby." He whispered back, reaching down to grasp her hand again. She couldn't believe what she was looking at. It was amazing, and she could probably blame it on the hormones, but she suddenly felt the back of her eyes burning with tears. How could she ever not want _this. _This was their child that they would bring into the world, their little boy or little girl.

"That's our baby."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: So this chapter is basically one big lemon. But there is a part at the end that I found really sweet as I proof read this chapter. Let me know what you think!**

* * *

It had been a hectic week for him. With the wedding being pushed up five months, Rhonda was calling them almost non stop, and since their save the date had already been sent out, they had to send out their invitations with a part explaining that they had decided to move the date of the wedding. He was worried that Helga hadn't completely looked over the guest list, and simply skimmed through it, to find any problems. It wasn't going to be a huge wedding, but it wasn't exactly small either. With everyone from their old class attending, along with a number of Arnold's old army buddies and a few of Helga's friends that she had made in Africa during her time with the Peace Corps, there was a fairly large number of people attending their wedding.

And while Olga had told them that she would help them out with anything in any way possible, her new job with Hillwood School System kept her pretty busy. But she did start her research on birthing couches, Lamaze classes, and everything else he had absolutely no clue what any of it was. He simply smiled and nodded.

But, not having caffeine or alcohol for a week had started to ware down on him. After leaving Doctor Ross's office, she had told them the obvious, not to drink caffeine or alcohol, along with a few other things that he honestly couldn't remember since he was caught up in the thought of having to deal with a coffee deprived fiance. So, to ease her burden a bit, and to just be nice, he had offered to do it with her. It had been a week and all he had to drink was water, and luckily, Olga had agreed to use the coffee pot that her office building had.

It was a Wednesday afternoon, and Helga only had one class today, while he had three, the last one getting out at five. Helga was being a bit more unpredictable than normal, and it was keeping up on his toes. He came home one day after going to the store to find her on the couch, bawling her eyes out. He had rushed over to her side to calm her down, and she simply pointed over to the TV where he saw a commercial for a charity for animal rescue playing, with a lady singing 'In The Arms Of The Angles'. He simply turned off the TV and brought her into his embrace.

Honestly, her mood swings were wearing him down a great deal. So today, he was standing outside on his stoop, staring at his front door, very hesitant to go inside. He didn't have the energy to think about becoming a father, as all of his energy was spent on dealing with her being pregnant. And while they had the print out of the sonogram in a frame, sitting on a chef next to their bed, reminding them every day what they were doing all of it for, he tried to tell himself that having to deal with a pregnant Helga would probably be nothing compared to having to deal with their child. The only thing he could do was hope that their baby turned out as docile as he was.

He gulped and pushed open the door. It was a surprise to hear it quiet. Yesterday, he had come home and she was blaring hard core metal music. So, it came as a welcomed shock to hear that the boarding house was silent. "Helga?" He called through the stillness. "Helga, I'm home." He took a few steps into the entry way, looking into the empty living room, then walking into the kitchen to find it also empty. Hearing someone move about quickly upstairs, he dropped his shoulder bag next to a chair in the kitchen, and quickly jumped up the stairs, then up the stairs to their room. He flung the door open and had to react quickly to the small box being thrown at his face.

He reached up and caught the box, and pulled it back to read the label, but didn't have time when he saw her charging toward him. Caught very off guard, he took a step back, but she was too fast. She grabbed onto his face, and continued to push him back, slamming him into the door heavily. She didn't give him the chance to ask what she was doing as she started to devour his lips very hungrily, and very demanding. Out of all the things he had come home to since she found out she was pregnant, this one he could get used to.

She hadn't been this fierce in a very long time, and she was already starting to claw at the hem of his t-shirt. Once he felt her nails scrap his lower abdomen, she forcefully yanked his t-shirt over his head, making him drop the box she had thrown him on the floor. Being pulled toward her by her pulling off his shirt, once she had thrown it clear across their room, she shoved him back against their door with two hands against his chest, and lunged forward again and continued to kiss him.

He knew where this was going, but still, she was pregnant, weren't they not suppose to do this while she was pregnant? "Helga..." He mumbled with her lips still being pressed hard against his.

"Shut up..." She demanded into his mouth, just before she shoved her tongue into it.

Although he felt his eyes roll back into his skull at her forceful tongue rolling its way into his mouth, he couldn't help but be worried. "Helga," He latched onto her upper arms and pushed her back, hearing her lips peel off of his with a wet pop.

"What?!"

"You're pregnant, isn't this against the rules?"

She scoffed, rolled her eyes broadly, and lunged forward and kissed him hard again, forcing him back against their bedroom door. "I called Doctor Ross this afternoon, and she said it was okay. And we haven't had sex in three weeks, I'm _frustrated!_ So with that in mind..." She hooked her fingers around the top of his jeans, and pulled him off the door, spun him around so his back was to their bed, and then pushed him back onto it.

In all their time they were together, she was never like this. She was never this rough, and while it was terrifying him, it was also very arousing to see the darkness in her eyes, the predatory look she was giving him, put in a cliche manner, she was giving him the eye of the tiger, and as she pulled her own shirt over her head, and tossed it across the room, she was about to pounce.

He sat up on his elbows, watching her reach behind her back to unsnap her bra, then letting it fall to the floor, and once it did, he felt his mind go blank. One of the benefits of her being pregnant was that, not that he cared, her breasts were _very _hard not to stare at. This was one of the 'side effects' of her pregnancy, as they were told by Doctor Ross, and it had kicked in a while ago. As she sauntered slowly up to the edge of the bed, obviously seeing the slack jawed look he had, he met her eyes again, and she smiled a very devious smile.

"Lose 'em." She ordered, stopping at the edge of the bed, placing her hands on her hips.

His mind still very fuzzy from the sight of her immaculate bare breasts, he had no idea what she was talking about, "Huh?"

"If you want your pants back in one piece, then take them off yourself." Not wanting to test her, he quickly fumbled with his belt buckle, and deciding not to bother with the button, he toed off his shoes and started to shove his pants down his legs. Apparently very impatient, she grabbed onto the legs, and started to yank them off. Once she had them in a heap in her hands, she tossed them against the back wall, then reached down to grab the box she had thrown at him. She pulled open the box, and it wasn't until she pulled out a small square wrapper that he realized what she was doing.

"Um... Helga?"

"You're using these." She ordered with her teeth at the edge of the wrapper. She tore it open and spit the remains to the floor, then pulled out a small, clear circle. She knelt down beside the bed, and he raised a brow at her, wondering why if she was already pregnant, was she telling him to use a condom.

"Uh... okay?"

She grabbed onto the base of him, making him jump a bit, then reached up to roll the condom over him, but stopped. She was staring at his cock with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, and he could tell was she was thinking. They had never gone to third base, ever. They always jumped from second to fourth, but now, she seemed to be determined to not skip over it this time, and all he could do at this point was scrunch his hands in the sheets. Without warning, she wrapped her lips around his tip, and he felt her tongue roll across it, making him suck in a shuttering breath as her hot mouth sunk deeper.

For never having done this before, she was very good at it. At least, he thought so with her tongue fluttering around him, with her lips sinking down deeper and deeper every time she went down. If she kept this up, it would end before it even began, and she would probably strangle him if that were to happen, but at this point, he couldn't do anything about it. She had him in the palm of her hand... so to speak.

As she continued to suck him harder and harder each time, his control was long gone, and he had already started to buck his hips when she started to retract her lips. She released him with a loud pop, and he let out a heavy breath, finally able to breath at a normal pace. He craned his neck to look at her, and she had placed the condom in her mouth, and was leaning down to place her mouth over him again, and running her hands down to roll to condom down all the way. Her mouth left him again, and he heard her let out a content sigh, obviously quite please with herself. "Listen, love. I don't want you to think that I'm going to be doing that all the time, I just wanted to see how you'd react."

"Okay..." He mumbled, still trying to regain his composure.

"But now," She moved to straddle him, placing her entrance at his tip, "I want you to do everything I tell you to."

"Okay..."

"And now, I just want you to hold on."

"Okay..."

She forced her hips down in a forceful thrust, not giving him time to brace himself. At the feeling of her insides tightly clench around him, she didn't even give herself time to adjust. She simply pushed back up and slammed down onto him again. She repeated this until it was a constant motion of her hips thrusting down against his, the sound of their bodies hitting together making it that much more arousing. With her hands pressing him down into the mattress, and her hips still slamming down onto his, his hands didn't move from their place, still scrunching the bed sheet together. With another hard thrust downward, she let out a loud, very long moan and started to grind down against him.

Just like she had told him to, all he could do was hold on, and let her take over, and he was very happy to let her take the reigns, but pretty soon, he could tell that she wasn't too happy with her having complete control. His mind still not having the ability to think, she grabbed onto his wrist, and bright his hand up so his fingers were pressing against her clit. As she pressed his fingers against her, and started to make them rub against her in tight circles, her hips still sliding roughly against his, she let out a another long moan and moved her hands to brace herself against the mattress as he kept his fingers pressed against her.

With every jerk of her hips that she was making, there was a sensual sound that followed, and it was those sounds that brought him out of his paralysis like state. He kept his fingers pressed against her center, while her moves became smoother, and reached up to grip her thigh, and leaned up to softly capture one of her nipples, knowing how sensitive they were now. With a quick flick of his tongue, she let out a yelp and he felt his head being smashed into her breast by a hand being fisted in his hair.

He was surprised that he had regained complete control so quickly, and she seemed to be losing it with every small rotation his fingers made. "Now," She spoke in a husky voice, pulling on his hair to look at him, "take me from behind."

His eyes widened in shock at her demand. Every other time they had had sex, it felt like making love to her. But now, it almost felt like they were _just _having sex. He may be looking too much into it, but he was feeling slightly used in that moment. He was about to argue and say that they should just slow down and just stick to their normal positions, but she seemed to read his mind, and read into his doubts about what they were doing. He looked off to the side, breaking eye contact, until he felt her softly cup his jaw, and bring him back up to look at her soft smirk and hazy eyes. "Listen, love" His heart melted at the sound of her calling him by her pet name for him, as it always did, "Just trust me, okay? You can let go of your inhibitions with me. I won't think any less of you, I love you too much. So just..." She leaned down to softly press her lips to his in a slow passionate kiss, "let go."

Something in his brain snapped, and before he could tell himself not to, he was leaning back up to kiss her hard. He pulled out of her, and climbed out from underneath her, while she bent down, placing her hands against the shelves along the wall, and arching her back. He pressed his palm down flat against the small of her back, and placed himself at her entrance that she was shoving out to him, ready for him. "Give me your hand." He ordered.

She reached back with her left hand, and he reached down and entwined the fingers together, while he slowly slid into her, watching her throw her head back, making her long blonde hair flow with it and around her shoulder. He started out slow, but after just a couple thrusts, she started to make sensual noises as he pulled out of her, and they were getting louder each time. With each moan that pierced his ears, he sped up a bit, until he was pushing into her at a moderate pace. "Tell me you love me, love." She pleaded as his other hand moved down to the curve of her ass.

"More than anything, beautiful." His unoccupied hand started to moved about her body, first around her ass, then up her side, then finally reaching down to gently cup her breast.

"Ha... harder." She moaned again, letting go of his hand and bracing herself against the shelve again. On her orders, he started to pump into her a little more forcefully. "Harder," She pleaded again, and he increased his speed a little, feeling her insides start to quiver around him. "Oh, Arnold!" She shouted just as her insides shook around him, her body beginning to quake and shiver as her strong orgasm rocked her body. After a moment, her shaky voice was ordering him again. "Now, as hard as you can. It's your turn."

Deciding to completely take matters into his own hands, he quickly flipped her over, and started diving himself into her again, bringing his body down flush against hers, feeling her legs tightly wrap around his him, her thighs squeezing against his sides as he quickened his already fast pace a little more. He pressed his lips to her neck, feeling her whole body quiver underneath him. It was only a few more thrusts after that that he felt the muscles on his back start to get tight, along with the muscles in the back of his legs.

With one more hard thrust, he felt himself pulsate inside her, his own orgasm locking his body up, as her own orgasm came back with a vengeance and began to make her body tingly with ecstasy. Once his breathing came back, and his muscles had unlocked, he rolled off to the side, and plopped down against the mattress in a heavy heap.

He reached down and carefully peeled the condom off, the hypersensitiveness still in effect, making his hips jerk back in response. Haphazardly tossing the condom on the ground, he let his muscles relax again as he began to take slow, deep breaths, trying to wrangle in his composure. It was a few minutes before he felt the bed beside him shift, and then felt his fiance roll into his side, placing her head against his shoulder, with her hand weaving itself into the short, light hairs on his chest, which she always enjoyed playing with.

"That was incredible." She murmured into his skin.

"Yeah..."

"I swear, I've been horny all day."

"Yeah..."

"I love you, Arnold."

"I love you too, Helga." He wrapped his arms around her, and she wrapped her own arms around his chest, snuggling herself into his side. He kissed her forehead, then reached up to grab the frame off the shelf, and brought it down in front of them. She lifted her head off his chest, and laid it back down so she could gaze at the grey and black lines with a tiny white blip in the middle that both of them already loved unconditionally. "What do you think it is? Boy or girl?"

"I don't know," She reached up and placed her fingers against the frame, right in the middle where their baby was. "What do you want it to be?"

He honestly hadn't thought about it. And while society would probably tell him to say he wanted it to be a boy, he couldn't help but wish for a girl. Just the thought of a tiny little, blonde haired girl, running up to him in a pink dress, shouting '_Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!', _then he would pick her up in the air and put her on his shoulders, making her feel like the tallest person in the world, it was a fantasy that filled his heart with joy. "A girl."

"Really?" She lifted her head up to look at him, a surprised arch in her brow.

"Yeah, why? You seem surprised."

"It's just that... well, you know, the guy usually wants a son to pass on the family name or whatever."

"Helga, have I ever been that chauvinistic? Besides, I've heard girls are easier to raise." She smiled and laid her head back down against his chest, and grabbed the other side of the picture frame. "What would you name her?"

"I've always been fond of the name Kara."

"Kara... that's pretty."


End file.
